It is well known that integrated circuits (ICs) frequently generate heat during operation so as to raise temperatures of internal components such as transistors above 90 C. Some component performance parameters such as noise and off-state current degrade significantly when the component temperatures rise above ambient. It is generally desired to cool some components in ICs, but cooling mechanisms and methods which use ambient air, such as fans mounted on IC packages, provide limited cooling of key components. Thermoelectric coolers mounted on IC packages consume too much power to be useful in many applications, and often fail to provide sufficient cooling of key components.
Accordingly, a device which provides local cooling of selected components in an IC is desired.